15 Then aall the men who were aware that their wives were burning 1sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, 2including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying,

16 “As for the 1amessage that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, bwe are not going to listen to you!

17 “But rather we will certainly acarry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, 1by burning 2sacrifices to the bqueen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as cwe ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had dplenty of 3food and were well off and saw no 4misfortune.

18 “But since we stopped burning 1sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have alacked everything and have 2met our end by the sword and by famine.”

19 “And,” said the women, “when we were aburning 1sacrifices to the queen of heaven and 2were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it bwithout our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes 3in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”